Nosgothica Powers
This article details the supernatural powers of the fictional Nosgothica, the product of a specific type of Vampirism, specific to the Source Lands Setting and Source Land Vampirism. Common Abilities All Nosgothica inherently possess these powers - some are actually just free advantages that are added to the sheet, others are catalogued as actual powers. Beast-Mode * Cost: None * Duration: Until Combat ends. * Time: Swift Action * Effect: The Vampire rolls a Will-Save vs 10+(number of enemy combatants)+(Blood-Potency)+(adjustment number based on actual threat-level). Regardless of whether the vampire succeeds or fails, the vampire may use its Blood-Potency as Armor Rating against all types of damage, except fire, add it to parry attempts, to dodge, to all attack rolls, to damage rolls, to athletic checks and as a raw bonus to speed. However, if the vampire fails the roll, they are forced to attempt to flee the encounter and/or hide, though will fight if they are cornered - if successful, they may stand their ground and fight until the encounter ends. * Type: Power * Advancement: Each rank grants a +1 Bonus to the Save-Check needed to use this power. The Vampire attempts to dig into itself and force out its darker instincts to aid them, and the end result is typically a Blood-Bath. The Vampire will instinctively activate Claws of the Beast if they are unarmed. Blood-Buff * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: Until Dawn or until struck with sunlight. * Time: Swift Action * Effect: Add your Blood-Potency to one of the following statistics: Strength, Agility, Wisdom, Intelligence, Dodge, Toughness, Fortitude or Will. * Type: Power * Advancement: None. All Vampires have the potential to greatly boost their capabilities. It should be noted that a Vampire that has boosted its intelligence or Wisdom behaves much like a person on performance enhancing drugs - generally acting hyper-active and speaking with an unprecedented eloquence. Claws of the Beast * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: Until Dawn or until struck with sunlight. * Time: Swift Action * Effect: Deal 1d6 Lethal Damage and count as trained when fighting unarmed. * Type: Power * Advancement: Ranks 2-5, each upgrading the dice roll of the damage dealt. The Vampire spends a point of vitae, and their fingertips instantly turn into dark claws made from Shadowmeld. They are not actually claws, but it is more akin to their hands literally turning into weapons, capable of tearing apart virtually anything - though it should be remembered that only the actual fingertips turn into shadowmeld, and the hand can still break. Dread-Lord * Cost: None * Duration: Permanent, except in Sunlight * Time: N/A * Effect: Sapient or Sentient undead creatures will, in many cases, have to obey the Vampire and cannot attack it. They must roll Will-Save vs. DC 10+Blood-Potency+Presence. They have to beat the DC by twice the bonus added to the 10, in order to be able to attack the Vampire, but only need to beat the DC to avoid having to obey the vampire - they only get to roll once per vampire. Does NOT affect other vampires. * Type: Advantage * Advancement: Each rank adds one to the DC the undead creature has to pass. I am the Night! Grave-Robbing * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: Permanent * Time: Varies * Effect: Disrupts and usurps- or establishes control over an undead creature that is not sapient. * Type: Advantage * Advancement: None. The Vampire, in some way, smears its blood unto the undead, and permanently becomes the ruler of this undead creature. Night-Sight * Cost: None * Duration: Permanent * Time: N/A * Effect: Consult Chart to see if you take a penalty from current conditions - penalty applies to combat rolls and perception rolls that are based on vision. If the character has a penalty of -4 or more, they must roll Athletics vs. a terrain-dependent DC, to avoid falling if they run, but can move at walking pace safely. * Type: Advantage * Advancement: None. Vampires tend to see better at night, and worse during the day. Regeneration * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: Until the Vampire has consumed 1 vitae for each 5 HP healed using this ability, or until a number of nights have passed, equal to 1 night per 5 HP healed using this ability. * Time: Swift Action * Effect: Heal 1d4+Blood-Potency Hitpoints * Type: Power * Advancement: Ranks 2-5, each upgrading the dice type for the healing roll. The Vampire pumps vitae through their body, finding all the damaged areas and patching as many as they can with pure shadowmeld. The Shadowmeld takes some time to assume the actual look of the damaged tissue, and until the vampire has either fed sufficiently, or waited sufficiently long, the wounds look like black matter. Veiling * Cost: None * Duration: Either active or inactive, but interrupted by daylight. * Time: Swift Action to activate. * Effect: When active, the vampire becomes forgotten and unnoticed by mortals, unless the Vampire somehow calls attention to themselves. * Type: Advantage * Advancement: None. The Vampire quiets the tug of the Nosgothica within it, preventing it from constantly reaching out to the soul-energy around the Vampire, and thus, the vampire fades from notice... * Note: This power does not prevent people from recognizing or noticing the vampire, nor does it actually cause them to forget the vampire or for that matter turn the vampire invisible. Those that have a reason to think of the vampire, seek it out or otherwise have business with the vampire will not be affected by this power, but the power does allow the vampire to generally walk around in public areas unbothered for the most part. * A Vampire using Veiling will cause one of two effects when viewed through a proxy source - either the image will be disturbed, or the Vampire will not be featured. For example, if someone takes a photograph of a vampire who is veiling, and the vampire is in a crowd, the lighting in the picture will render the vampire impossible to identify, but if the vampire is caught as a sole individual on CCTV, the vampire will not appear in the footage at all. Vigor-Mortis * Cost: None * Duration: Always on, except in sunlight. * Time: N/A * Effect: Vampires add their Blood-Potency to their Speed Rating (as extra feet they can move per turn) and multiply their jump-distances by their Blood-Potency (commonly a number of feet equal to 1d20+Strength+Agility+Athletics), and for the purpose of carrying capacity, etc., the Vampire may add its Blood-Potency to its strength. * Type: Advantage * Advancement: None Vampires can utilize their bodies in ways mortals cannot, because they have no concerns in regards to their own bodily health - at least not compared to a mortal. This affords them certain strengths... Day-Walker * Cost: None * Duration: Always on, except in sunlight. * Time: N/A * Effect: All Vampires can resist the fear of the sun with a will-save, but if this advantage is not possessed, the DC is 15 plus a modifier based on circumstances (intensity of sun, etc.), but when this advantage is possessed, the DC is a flat 10 for dawn/dusk sun, 15 for morning/afternoon sun and 20 for noon-sun. This advantage further more allows the vampire to keep their composure if they pass the check, whereas a vampire without this advantage will be behaving much like someone trying to avoid the sights of a sniper in the sun. * Type: Advantage * Advancement: +1 to Will-Save vs. Sunlight Apart from the Nosferatu (excluding the Light Born), all vampires can learn the Day-Walker trait. * Note: Day-Walker essentially prevents the vampire from having to sleep, but it has a secondary effect, which is that the vampire can, without needing a roll, sleep outside of their designated Haven (applies only to tempered Vampires). However, when sleeping outside of a haven, the vampire cannot spend experience, advance their blood-potency or properly recover from wounds (they will keep appearing as shadow-marks). Specific Abilities These abilities are not available to all vampires, but often be learned through diablerie and in some cases, through practice. Bat Form * Requirement: Vesper * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: Until Struck by Sunlight * Time: Instant Action * Effect: '''The Vesper assumes the shape of a giant bat, and has the same stats as an adult Wyvern, minus the racial abilities, though it retains its own mental attributes, its skills and saves (if higher). * '''Save: None. * Type: Power * Advancement: N/A The Vampire transforms into a gigantic bat, a force of sheer destruction. Bat-Swarm * Requirement: Vampire Lord * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: Until Dawn or Until Struck by Sunlight * Time: Instant Action * Effect: '''The Vampire dissolves into a swam of bats, with there being as many bats as the vampire has HP in a wound cycle, multiplied by Blood-Potency. Each bat killed reduces the Vampire's HP by 1. If all bats are killed, the Vampire dies final death. * '''Save: None. * Type: Power * Advancement: Powerful and risky at the same time - the vampire cannot materialize until the vampire has enough bats together to form a full wound-cycle of HP. If fewer bats remain, the Vampire cannot materialize into a conscious functional form, but becomes little more than a blackened heart. Beast-Master * Requirement: Alp- or Nosferatu-Strain, non-restricted * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: Until Dawn or Until Command Carried Out. * Time: Instant Action * Effect: '''Roll Presence+Intimidation (or Persuasion if an Alp)+Blood-Potency vs. Creature HD (+10 if not favored creature type)+1 for each creature affected. The Vampire may give the victim a command, but please note that the animal may not necessarily understand the command. * '''Save: Will-Save Contested, but only for particularly intelligent creatures... * Type: Power * Advancement: Each rank grants a +1 Bonus to the roll made. Both Alps and the Nosferatu have a connection with the wild, and certain animals are particularly prone to obeying them. The Nosferatu growl, hiss, screech and howl when they command creatures, and the alps sing and hum. No actual words are spoken, and the commands typically have to be simple, as creatures cannot understand complex commands. * Note: Alps consider canines their favored creatures, whereas the Nosferatu consider Rodents their favored creatures. If a Dhampyr-Strain vampire was to learn this power, they would simply not have a favored creature-type. Dominate * Requirement: Dhampyr-Strain, non-restricted * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: Until Dawn or Until Command Carried Out. * Time: Instant Action * Effect: '''Roll Presence+Persuasion+Blood-Potency vs. Will Save. The Vampire may give the victim a command, consisting of a Word-of-Importance per Blood-Potency+Ranks in Dominate+1 for each time the Vampire beat the victim's Will-Save by 5. The Vampire instinctively knows how many words of actual importance they can weave into their command. * '''Save: Will-Save Contested. * Type: Power * Advancement: Each rank grants a +1 Bonus to the roll made, and adds an extra automatic Word-of-Importance. Dhampyrs can command those around them with carefully selected words, and their victims obey, often unaware of why they did so. When the power fails, the victim doesn't often realize what the Dhampyr attempted. * Note: Words-of-Importance are the Words from the sentence that actually matter. For example; "Please go to the mansion on the hill and fetch the large ruby for me" is a long sentence, but only a few words in this sentence are techncially necessary for the victim to understand the context, provided they know what the vampire is talking about - so the Words-of-Importance are "Fetch ruby in Mansion on Hill", thus only give Words-of-Importance are required to use the above sentence - but for the sentence to be successful, the victim must of course know of this ruby, and the mansion in question. * Note: In order for this power to work, the victim must be in a state where they are capable of listening and comprehending the Vampire, they must understand the vampire, hear it and look into its eyes for the duration of the sentence - they cannot look away once the Vampire begins to speak after using this power, unless forced to do so, for instance if they suddenly have to duck from an attack, or something very distracting occurs. * Note: This power only works on Mortals, but some Vampires have found ways of making it work on other beings... Earth-Meld * Requirement: Bruxae, non-restricted * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: Until dispelled or interrupted * Time: Standard Action * Effect: '''The Vampire melds with the ground - requiring access to twice as much soil as their own body-mass. * '''Save: None. * Type: Power * Advancement: None. Impossible to detect, Vampires hiding in the ground itself are surprisingly easy to kill - but you have to find them first. Levitation * Requirement: Vampire Lord, Katakan or Bruxae, non-restricted * Cost: None * Duration: Until Struck by Sunlight * Time: N/A * Effect: '''The Vampire levitates a foot above the ground, and can slow its fall. * '''Save: None. * Type: Power * Advancement: None. Certain Vampires can survive falling from any height - it is not a recommended way to kill them. Vampires, in many myths, do not leave footprints. Magic Affinity * Requirement: Alp-Strain * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: N/A * Time: N/A * Effect: '''Alps and their higher forms have an easier time casting Necromancy and Illusion-based spells than other Vampires do, and are not limited by their Blood-Potency in which spell-levels they can cast outside of ritual-use when it comes to those two specific schools of magic. * '''Save: N/A * Type: Advantage * Advancement: None Majesty * Requirement: Dhampyr-Strain, non-restricted * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: Until end of Encounter * Time: Swift Action * Effect: '''Roll Presence+Blood-Potency+(optionally/conditionally desired or relevant skill, typically social skill) minus number of listeners. The Vampire gains a bonus to all Social Rolls equal to Blood-Potency+Ranks in ability versus those affected. * '''Save: Contested Will-Save. Those affected may roll Will-Save, but only if the Vampire actually uses the bonus gained actively against them - the power also passively forces an air of authority and admiration unto the vampire, which cannot be dispelled with Will-Save. * Type: Power * Advancement: Each rank grants a +1 Bonus to the roll made. All Vampires can quiet the gaping sucking maelstrom of entropy that has replaced their souls - but Dhampyrs tend to be overindulgent, and can easily project their Nosgothica even more than usual, forcing others to notice the Dhampyr. Masquerading * Requirement: Alp-Strain, non-restricted * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: Until Dawn or Until Struck by Sunlight * Time: Instant Action * Effect: '''The Vampire can store a number of visages equal to its Blood-Potency+Ranks in this ability, and can assume any of them at will - the Vampire can also attempt to mimic the visage of anyone they have fed from or from corpses they have absorbed soul-energy from, though this way they have to form the visage manually and entirely from memory, using an Expertise: Art roll+Blood-Potency to do so. No matter what the vampire rolls, they themselves think the visage was well constructed. * '''Save: None. This ability is resistant to detect magic attempts and passive uses of detect magic will not reveal the vampires use of this power, but active scrutiny (insight check used with Detect Magic) is made against a DC 10+Blood-Potency+Ranks in power. * Type: Power * Advancement: Each rank grants a +1 Bonus to the roll made, and grants an extra visage. According to the legend, one of the many reasons that the dead are burned, is because a Vampire could return wearing their skin - though they say the Vampire "rides the corpse" to do this, but it is actually not the case, rather the Vampire utilizes one of many methods to absorb the visage of a corpse. Few realize the vampires can also claim the visage of the living... Mist Form * Requirement: Bruxae, non-restricted * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: '''Until Struck by Sunlight * '''Time: Instant Action * Effect: '''The Bruxae becomes a cloud of mist, the size of an average living room. * '''Save: None. * Type: Power * Advancement: N/A The Vampire literally transforms into a Mist. The vampire cannot maneuver on its own without using some sort of outside influence, and is vulnerable to anything that might harm mist. Nightmare * Requirement: Nosferatu-Strain, non-restricted * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: Until end of Encounter * Time: Swift Action * Effect: '''Roll 1d20+Presence+Intimidation+Blood-Potency minus number of people affected vs. Will Save, if successful, the victims become scared. * '''Save: Will-Save contested, if the victim loses, they are are demoralized and cannot attack the Vampire that round. If they are beat by 5, they are outright dazed. If beat by 10, they are forced to immediately flee. For each time they are beat by an additional 5 beyond, they suffer damage to their sanity. * Type: Power * Advancement: Each rank grants a +1 Bonus to the roll made. The Vampire terrorizes those around it, manipulating the Nogothica's constant effect on souls and soul-energy around it, to twist the way the world and itself appears, causing total dread in onlookers. Obfuscate * Requirement: Nosferatu-Strain, non-restricted * Cost: 1 Vitae if the vampire wants to move at walking pace, 0 if the vampire stands still. * Duration: Until the vampire leaves the darkness. * Time: Standard Action * Effect: The Vampire rolls 1d20+Wisdom or Agility+Stealth+Blood-Potency and can hide in plain sight, provided the light conditions are at least Low-Light, or the Vampire is standing in the shadows. Those looking directly at the vampire while the Vampire uses this ability may roll perception to spot the vampire, but others are forced to rely on their passive perception vs. the Vampire's Passive Stealth, which becomes Wisdom or Agility+Stealth+Blood-Potency+10. Those specifically told to look for the Vampire may contend against the Vampire's active stealth roll. * Save: Perception. * Type: Power * Advancement: Each rank grants a +1 Bonus to the roll made. The Nosferatu excel at not being seen - taking the common ability of Veiling to a whole other extreme, as they also force the dormant shadowmeld in their skin to darken and camouflage them. Screech * Requirement: Fleder * Cost: None * Duration: 1 round * Time: Standard Action * Effect: '''The Fleder rolls 1d20+Presence+Intimidation+Blood-Potency and lets out a terrifying screech. This power can be combined with the use of nightmare, but in addition to the effects of Nightmare, the Fleder's scream forces everyone within 30 feet to make a contested Fortitude Save. If they succeed, they can choose to ignore the effects of the scream, but suffer 1d4+Blood-Potency sonic damage, or be stunned for the round. Those that fail are stunned. * '''Save: Contested Fortitude. * Type: Power * Advancement: Each rank grants a +1 Bonus to the roll made, and upgrades the sonic damage dice. The screech of a Fleder is said to inflict great pain, but this pain is supposedly nothing compared to the scars it leaves on the soul. Siren-Song * Requirement: Katakan * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: Until Dawn * Time: Standard Action * Effect: '''The vampire rolls 1d20+Presence+Perform+Blood-Potency minus amount of listeners to weave together a Siren-Song. The Siren-Song inspires the listeners to do what the song suggests, but cannot force individuals who would betray their character in complying. * '''Save: Contested Will-Save. * Type: Power * Advancement: Each rank grants a +1 Bonus to the roll made. The call of a Katakan has lured many a man to his death in the dark... Spider-Climb * Requirement: Vampire-Lord, non-restricted, always available * Cost: None * Duration: Until struck by sunlight * Time: N/A * Effect: '''Vampire-Lords can defy gravity and walk along all surfaces. * '''Save: None. * Type: Power * Advancement: N/A Vampires walking on ceilings or directly up a wall is nothing unusual in myths and legends - and it turns out that it is for a reason. Third Eye * Requirement: Dhampyr-Strain, non-restricted * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: ~30 seconds. * Time: Swift Action to use, but it takes ~30 seconds to complete use of ability. * Effect: Make a Wisdom+Insight+Blood-Potency roll vs. variable DC, to gain a Bonus equal to Blood-Potency to a number of rolls against target, and an additional +1 for each time the DC was beat by 5 - as an added bonus, this ability doubles as a weaker and vaguer version of "Detect-Magic", and further more, the power can be used to glean information about objects and people, that the Vampire couldn't have known about. * Save: None * Type: Power * Advancement: Each rank grants a +1 Bonus to the roll made. Dhampyrs stand at the threshold between mortal and vampire, and see equally well into both worlds. They have an ability to see souls and soul-energy - for many of them, their use of this power is difficult to explain, and many explain it differently, but it allows them to experience what is around them on a very deep level sometimes. Partial-Shifting * Requirement: Ekkimara, non-restricted (2nd level) * Cost: 1 Vitae if swift action, 0 vitae if standard action. * Duration: Until touched by the sun or until the vampire hibernates. * Time: Standard, or Swift if 1 vitae spent. * Effect: An Ekkimara has all the same physical traits as a Fledgling-Nosferatu, but can remove these, or add these at will. * Save: N/A * Type: Power * Advancement: Each rank grants a +1 Bonus to the roll made. The Ekkimara awakens, not too different from the Fledgling-Nosferatu, but can remedy this with a bit of concentration. Though sometimes, the Ekkimara may have need of better hearing, or a stronger nose etc., and can add these back. Wolf-Form * Requirement: Bruxae, non-restricted (3rd level) * Cost: 1 Vitae * Duration: Until touched by the sun. * Time: Standard Action * Effect: The Vampire takes on the form of a wolf, but with the stats of a Dire Wolf. * Save: N/A * Type: Power * Advancement: N/A They say Vampires can take the shape of a wolf. It is true for some, and they are much more ferocious when they do this, than most would assume.